Former Trump attorney Michael Cohen took the stand Tuesday for his second day of testimony in former President Donald Trump’s criminal trial, after telling prosecutors on Monday the ex-president was personally involved with a hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels—and the reimbursement scheme at the heart of the trial.
Michael Cohen leaves his apartment building on his way to Manhattan criminal court in New York on ... [+]
Prosecutors will continue questioning Cohen on Tuesday before Trump’s attorneys begin their cross-examination, as he’s the trial’s central witness: Trump is on trial for allegedly falsifying business records when he reimbursed Cohen’s $130,000 payment to Daniels that the ex-attorney made right before the 2016 election.
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Cohen’s testimony is likely to stretch into Thursday, the next time the trial will convene this week, and he’s anticipated to be one of the prosecution’s final witnesses. Prosecutors said on Friday they could rest their case as soon as the end of this week.
Cohen was known as Trump’s loyal “fixer” before the ex-president’s longtime attorney flipped on him in 2018, when Cohen pleaded guilty to crimes including lying to Congress and campaign finance crimes that stemmed from his payment to Daniels. He’s since become one of Trump’s harshest critics, and was sentenced to three years in prison for his crimes. Cohen, who has since been disbarred, paid Daniels $130,000 right before the 2016 election to cover up her allegations of an affair with Trump, and Trump then reimbursed Cohen through a series of payments made throughout 2017. Prosecutors allege those payments were falsely labeled as being for legal payments, but Trump has denied any wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty to the charges. Trump has also publicly denied Daniels’ affair allegations. In his testimony on Monday, Cohen linked Trump directly to the hush money payments to Daniels and others, saying he would report everything he was doing to Trump, and the then-candidate was directly involved with the scheme to pay Daniels for her silence, telling the jury that the payment could not have gone forward without Trump’s approval. Cohen also testified Trump did not directly deny having sex with Daniels, and alleged Trump was present when former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg told Cohen Trump’s reimbursement checks would be labeled as legal payments. That marked a blow to Trump’s defense, as his lawyers have tried to distance the ex-president from how the payments were characterized.